Lucky and Honored
by Sass and Sex
Summary: Set mid-late season 6. CJ has to wake the President, and she ends up spending some time with the Bartlets.


Author's Note: I've had this floating around my head for a while, and I decided that I wanted to explore CJ's relationship with the Bartlets a little more, so here we are. Enjoy :)

**Lucky and Honored**

CJ walked down the hall of the Residence clenching and unclenching her fists. She hated doing this. She knew she had to, but it didn't mean she had to like it. She nodded to the Secret Service agents before taking a deep breath and knocking on the door. Inside, she heard a groan and a very groggy "Yeah."

She opened the door and walked inside the bedroom. "I'm so sorry to wake you, sir. Nancy McNally is calling."

Jed sat up and swung his legs out of bed. "India at the border again?"

"Looks like it, yeah."

He sighed. "Okay. I'll take it in the study."

"Do you want me on the call, sir?" CJ asked.

Abbey sat up in bed and stifled a yawn. "Stay here with me, CJ."

Jed turned to see his wife's sleepy face. "I'll yell if I need you." He pulled his robe on and shuffled out to his private office.

When the door closed, Abbey turned on the light beside the bed and patted the mattress beside her. "Take a load of, Claudia Jean."

CJ sat down, remaining relatively poised, waiting for the First Lady to say or do something.

"Oh come on, CJ, I'm Abbey now. And my husband is off dealing with an international crisis. Gossip with me. What's new with you?" Abbey readjusted her position, sitting cross-legged on her side of the bed.

CJ smiled. She kicked her shoes off and crawled onto the bed, facing Abbey and leaning back against the carved wood footboard. "How are you this congenial at three in the morning?"

"Oh god, is it three?" Abbey looked over at the clock and groaned. "Whatever. He's the one who needs sleep, and there's nothing we can do about that. My beauty rest is of no consequence in the grand scheme of international security."

"I hear you there," CJ agreed. She gazed over at the woman across from her. Abbey Bartlet, nearly sixty years old, somehow looked strong and beautiful and happy after being woken up at three in the morning. She was a marvel. CJ admired her more than she could ever properly express. "Is it hard, Abbey? Being second?"

"What, second to all of this?" she asked, gesturing to everything around her. The White House. Abbey gave a sad sort of smile. "I've been second in Jed's life for most of the time I've known him. I know he knows it, but it would kill him to hear anyone say it. But a lot of it is my own fault. I put myself in that position before we even got married."

"You did? Why?"

"Did you know he was going to be a priest when we met?"

CJ grinned. "Yeah. He told me that a while ago. That's why he went to Notre Dame. And then he met you."

"Yep. That's exactly right. He changed his entire life for me. He gave up the one thing he knew he wanted so he could be with me. And to be loved like that at twenty years old was probably a little more than I was prepared for. For the next five years or so, I found myself constantly trying to find ways to sacrifice for him to somehow make myself worthy of what he gave me."

"That doesn't seem like you," CJ replied with a furrowed brow.

Abbey let out a throaty laugh. "Well it isn't me anymore. Not really. We went through a really rough patch when Liz was little when I realized I put my entire life on hold so he could do something with his. It's a little funny that I'm right back in the same position now, but this is different. Before he even got into politics, I knew he was destined to do amazing things. And no matter what I want to do with my life, I couldn't possibly do anything knowing that he wasn't doing everything he could. He's brilliant and so kind and compassionate. Well, I don't need to tell you that. Or anyone else in this building. He's the reason you're all here."

CJ nodded. "He asked me to jump off a cliff when he asked me to take this job."

"And you said yes. Anyone who has ever spent real time with Jed would jump off a cliff for him. I was twenty-two when I realized that I didn't want him to sacrifice anything for me, and I still don't. But he would, and he has. Because that's the kind of man he is. I'm second in his life because that's the way it has to be. Believe me, CJ, he doesn't like getting interrupted during our time together to go deal with all the million things he's responsible for. If he did, that would be a different story. I know he wants me to be first, but he wouldn't be the man I love if he did put me before this country."

CJ felt tears well up in her eyes as Abbey spoke. "I want that," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Abbey smiled knowingly. "And you'll get it. I've seen the way a few men have looked at you, CJ. To them, the sun shines out of your ass. Never mind jumping off a cliff, they'd take a bullet for you any day of the week. You are incredibly loved, Claudia Jean. But you're busy right now. Your time will come."

CJ opened her mouth to respond but was cut off when she heard the President yell her name from down the hall.

"Go to work, Ms. Cregg," Abbey said. "And send him back when you can. He really does need to get some rest."

"Yes, m'am." CJ went out to the study, trying not to wonder what men Abbey had been referring to. Sun shines out of her ass? Yeah. Sure.

When she arrived in the President's study, he was sitting in the armchair by the empty fireplace. The lamp beside him was lit, but the room was otherwise dark.

"Now, I'm gonna guess that one of two things just happened: either my wife just scolded you for interrupting my sleep and for keeping yourself up so late in such an unhealthy fashion, or she engaged you in some kind of ridiculously insipid girl talk. Which was it?" Jed asked.

With a grin, CJ replied, "It was a little bit of both, sir. She did want me to let you get back to bed as soon as possible, but we mostly talked about her. And you."

"Discussing my marriage, were you?"

"In a way. I know things aren't perfect in the Bartlet house, but I was just asking Mrs. Bartlet how she did it. I know you know, sir, that she's not the kind of woman who's very content to smile and wave for her whole life."

Jed nodded. "Abbey's no Jackie Kennedy. No, she's more like Eleanor Roosevelt. But shorter. And prettier. And with a smart mouth."

"She loves you very much," CJ said quietly, feeling like she was perhaps getting a little too close to crossing a line here. But then again, it was almost four A.M. and the President was sitting in his robe and slippers.

"Marriage is hard work. You all have seen Abbey and me go through it all. Of course, we had thirty years under our belts before you came on board, but still. I thank God every single day that she's as strong as she is. Not everyone could live this life. Certainly not most women with Abbey's qualifications. The fact that she does smile and wave more often than anything else is such a waste. I hate that she can't do more."

CJ had very rarely heard him speak with this kind of sentiment before. Certainly not with this much detail. Abbey was right. He wanted to put her first, but he couldn't. CJ felt like her whole chest was expanding with warmth.

Jed continued, chuckling, "You know, when she got her M.D. from Harvard, I was so proud of her. Whenever we were out together, I would turn to anyone we met and say, 'This is my wife, _Doctor_ Bartlet.' I still do. And by the time she got her second board certification, we had three children. Can you imagine? Medical school and residency and all of the insanity of being on call twice a week and performing heart surgery every single day _and_ having a husband and three kids to deal with." His face was alight with pride and love for the woman whose praises he couldn't stop singing.

"She is amazing, sir. I feel lucky to know her and honored to call her my friend," CJ admitted. The President just smiled at her. CJ thought she recognized that look in his eye he had just then as he looked at her. It almost looked like the way he looked at Zoey or Ellie when they would tell their father about the things they were doing in school. But it was dark. It was probably a trick of the dim light. "Sir, did Nancy say anything about the troop movement?"

Jed was rudely brought back to the reason he was awake at four in the morning. "Yeah, she was just confirming what the intelligence predicted about the movements. I authorized the strike when they cross the two hundred mark. They're going in a few hours from now, assuming everything keeps going like it has been. There's nothing else for us to do until tomorrow." He pushed himself up from his chair.

"Then you should get some rest, sir," CJ said, standing as well.

"So should you. Go home and sleep for a while." Jed placed his hand on her back as he led her out of the room.

"Thank you, sir. Goodnight." She turned to go down the hall toward the foyer of the Residence as he turned back toward the bedroom.

"Goodnight. And CJ?"

She turned back. "Yes, sir?"

"I don't want to see you here before eight."

CJ smiled. "Yes, sir." She walked away, thankful she could finally go home. She could almost hear her bed calling to her.

Jed watched his Chief of Staff walk down the hall. She had said she was lucky and honored to know Abbey. He couldn't help but feel the same way about CJ, and he knew Abbey would agree.


End file.
